Royal Veterinary College. 
123 
time during the course of an attack whether there is a diminution 
in the number of red cells of the blood pari passu with the excretion 
of pigment in the urine. During the past eighteen months the 
opportunity has been taken to make observations on this point in the 
case of three horses suffering from hemoglobinuria, and the results 
obtained throw a new light on the real nature of the disease. 
By using an instrument termed a corpuscle-counter for the 
examination of the blood, it was found that, even some time after 
the onset of the attack, the number of red cells in the blood was 
above normal — in one instance the corpuscles were nearly twice as 
numerous as they are in healthy horses — and during the progress of 
the disease the number gradually declined, but never fell below 
the normal eight millions. 
In view of this discovery it would appear that the disease has its 
starting-point during the period of unwonted rest and liberal diet, 
which has the effect of raising the number of red cells in the blood. 
As soon as the horse is taken out to exercise the destruction of the 
superabundant corpuscles sets in, and the products of this de- 
struction are accountable for the remarkable train of symptoms. 
The colouring matter of the destroyed red cells becomes partly dis- 
solved in the plasma, is carried to the kidneys, and there excreted 
with the urine ; while part takes the form of minute granules, which 
become arrested in the capillaries of certain muscles, cut off the 
supply of nutriment to these, and thus cause their death and 
destruction. 
If this view of the pathology of the disease is correct, the copious 
abstraction of blood would be indicated by way of treatment when 
this can be done at the very onset of the attack. As regards pre- 
vention, it is obvious that the best way of obviating an attack is to 
let every horse have daily exercise when that is possible, and when 
that is not possible to cut down his rations to a bare subsistence 
scale. 
New Infectious Disease in Turkeys. 
During the past year numerous experiments were made in the 
Research Laboratory in order to ascertain the cause of a very fatal 
disease of turkeys which prevailed on a farm near Newport Pagnell. 
The chief symptoms of the disease, as communicated by Mr. G. E. 
King, M.R.C.Y.S., of Newport Pagnell, were as follows : At the 
outset the birds showed a peculiar twitching of the eyeballs, stiffness 
of the neck and legs, drooping of the wings and tail, and ruffling of 
the feathers. Soon afterwards a discharge from the nostrils appeared, 
and the affected birds made a peculiar rattling or gurgling sound in 
the throat, while the mouth became filled with a frothy liquid. 
The faeces passed during the attack were very thin, and milky-white 
or yellowish in colour. The woman who attended to the poultry 
said that she could readily find out the affected birds by the drops 
which collected at the end of the beak. 
At the outset of the epizootic the owner had forwarded one of 
